Lucky Star

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From Wikipedia:

Lucky Star's story portrays the lives of several girls attending a Japanese high school named Ryōō with a very loose sense of humor. The setting is mainly based on the city of Kasukabe in Saitama Prefecture. The main character is Konata Izumi, an athletic and intelligent girl who, despite these attributes, is not in a sports club and has to resort to all-nighter cramming for tests. Her laziness at school is due to her love for anime and video games and lack of interest in anything else. The serialization began with the four main characters in their first year of high school: Konata Izumi, Kagami Hiiragi, Tsukasa Hiiragi, and Miyuki Takara. As the story progresses, they move on to their second and third years. However, the anime starts the story with them beginning their second year. The storyline usually includes numerous references to popular past and present manga and anime series.

Azumanga Daioh

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Azumanga Daioh chronicles everyday life in an unnamed Japanese high school in Tokyo, following the trials and triumphs of six girls: reserved Sakaki's obsession with cute animals, Chiyo's struggle to fit in with girls five years older, Osaka's spacey nature and skewed perspective on the world, Yomi's aggravation at an annoying best friend, Tomo, whose energy is rivaled only by her lack of sense, and Kagura's efforts in sports and school. 

The story covers three years of tests, culture festivals, and athletic events at school, after-school life at the nearby shopping district, at Chiyo's large house, vacations spent at Chiyo's summer home on the beach and at Magical Land, a theme park. It is generally realistic in tone, marked by occasional bursts of surrealism and absurdity, such as Osaka's bizarre imaginings, Chiyo's ponytails being "unscrewed", and an episode featuring the characters' New Year's dreams.

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Sounds boring ? Well, it ain't. It's extremely funny, although not stupid-funny. It's more weird-but-innocent-funny. All the fun lies in the characters, including the teachers (notably Yukari, Minamo "Nyamo" and Kimura). The humor used here is quite hard to describe, so just check out the numerous short clips which show off the general mood and style of this series very well.

Since the manga original got released as what western media would call "funnies" (like Garfield, Blondie, Dilbert, etc.) each episode is a collection of several short stories. So don't expect an elaborate epic storyline (or any story at all for that matter).

Anyway, this series is a classic. And it's highly recommended.
Enjoy !

And just in case you wonder where my avatar comes from:

Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Christo

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This is basicaly a science fiction interpretation of the classic novel "The Count of Monte Christo". Those of you who never heard of that story and are old enough to grow pubes are hereby ordered to get your basic education up to speed. Watching this anime won't substitute for reading (or watching) the original, although you are guaranteed to enjoy it.

For those that know the original (or one of the many movies) I can offer a real treat: An anime with a familiar theme in a far removed setting with plenty of differences that distinguishes itself from the original, so that it stays exciting to the end.

The setting is the year 5053 (as oppposed to 1800) and humanity has spread out among the stars and advanced technology to a point where size and appearances don't matter anymore. This results in a visual style reminiscent to the year 1800, although there is never any doubt that everything is high tech. 

The art style is rather unique as you can see by the screenshots. It doesn't take long to get used to it, though. 

The story itself is following the general theme of the original: Elaborate Revenge.

But as opposed to the original, the count - which was pictured much more sympathetic there - is more enigmatic and sinister ... and less of a protagonist than expected, since most of the story is told out of the eyes of young Albert de Morcerf, who is immedeatly fascinated by the Count, not knowing that his meeting with him as planned long ago.

Safe for all ages.

Enjoy!

PS: I wouldn't mind hearing from you in the comments section what you think of this series. This goes for every release, of course.

PPS: By the way, the first aria you get to hear in the above episode (you might have heard it in the movie 5th element, too), is the "Mad scene" Il dolce suono from Donicettis Lucia di Lammermoor. Just in case anyone enjoys this kind of music.

Monster

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Description from AnimeNfo:

Dr. Tenma is a Japanese brain surgeon working in Germany. He has it all: incredible medical skills, a great job, and a beautiful fiancée who also happens to be the daughter of the hospital's director.

One day he is ordered to forgo operating on a critically injured man in favor of a more illustrious patient. Disillusioned by the hospital's politics, he decides from then on that he will do what he thinks is right, regardless of politics.

Some time later, a young boy and his twin sister are brought in. The boy has a bullet in his head and requires an operation that Dr. Tenma knows only he is capable of performing successfully. Just as Dr. Tenma is about to begin the procedure, the mayor is rushed into the hospital and the director instructs Dr. Tenma to leave the boy to operate on the critically ill mayor. Dr. Tenma decides that he will do what is right and go ahead with the boy's operation.

The young boy's operation ends in success but the surgeons operating on the politician fail. As a result, Dr. Tenma is passed over for a promotion and his fiancée calls off their engagement.

Soon after this incident, strange murders begin to occur, all of which benefit Dr. Tenma greatly. As a result, he becomes the prime suspect although the police have no evidence against him. It seems that the boy whose life he saved is heavily involved in it somehow and that there is much more to him than meets the eye.

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I admit, the description sounds pretty boring. So boring in fact that I postponed watching it for months, despite the glowing reviews this series received from all over. And once I started watching I was caught in the flow of suspense and mystery.

If you want to prove to someone that anime are not just children cartoons (without resorting to a demonstration of tentacle sex to prove your point), then grab monster. If you want to watch a series that constantly keeps you awake and eager to follow the story to it's conclusion then start downloading now.

No disappointment possible.